Given name & surname · also Greek
Socrates
“an ancient philosopher”
Socrates is used as a given name and a surname. One Greek interpretation is “an ancient philosopher.”
Original GreekΣωκράτης
Meaning & origin
What it means
One Greek interpretation is “an ancient philosopher.”
Where it comes from
An origin associated with this spelling is Greek.
How it developed
In English usage, Socrates developed from Σωκράτης.
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1914. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Socrates through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 725
- 725 boys · 0 girls
- Most popular year
- 1922
- 17 babies
- 2025
- 0
- Outside the ranked list
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- —
- Too few births to compare
By the numbers
The most recent published U.S. birth count for boys is 11 in 2022. Later missing counts do not mean the name went unused. Its largest published annual count for boys was 17 in 1922. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 1,202 as a first name in 2020; 138 as a surname in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Socrates’s family of names
In English usage, Socrates shares an earlier linguistic root with SOKRATIS. In English usage, Socrates has a conventional equivalent in the Italian form SOCRATE. Socrates has a related form in Socratees.
Inner ring: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Around the world
Socrates has relatives in 54 languages. Lines run from its Ancient Greek roots to each of them.
Ancient Greekwhere Socrates comes from · 1 name
Nicknames & forms 3
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Across languages 39
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
- Σωκράτηςroot · Greek, Ancient Greek
- 蘇格拉底Chinese
- СократRussian, Serbo-Croatian
- Sokratisdoublet · English
- Xô-crátVietnamese
- سقراطOttoman Turkish, Persian
- SócratesSpanish, Portuguese
- SókratSlovene
Show 31 moreShow fewer
- SokratSerbo-Croatian, Azerbaijani
- Сокра́тRussian, Bulgarian
- SocrateRomanian, Italian
- ਸੁਕਰਾਤPunjabi
- سوکراتسPersian
- ସକ୍ରେଟିସ୍Odia
- सुकरातNepali, Marathi
- SokrateMaltese
- SokratasLithuanian
- SokratsLatvian
- SōcratēsLatin
- 소크라테스Korean
- សូក្រាតKhmer
- ソクラテスJapanese
- SókratesIcelandic
- SzókratészHungarian
- सुक़रातHindi
- סוקראטסHebrew
- સુકરાતGujarati
- სოკრატეGeorgian
- SokratoEsperanto
- SókratésCzech
- SòcratesCatalan
- ဆိုကရေးတီးBurmese
- সুকরাতBengali
- SüqratAzerbaijani
- ՍոկրատէսClassical Armenian
- ՍոկրատեսArmenian
- سُقْراطacw
- سُوكْرَاتِسArabic
- سُقْرَاطArabic
People named Socrates
- Socrates BritoDominican baseball player for the Arizona Diamondbacksborn 1992
- Socrates MesionaFilipino Catholic bishop (born 1963)
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Similar names
If you love Socrates, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
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Ioannes
Ioannes is a masculine given name from Koine Greek, ultimately from Biblical Hebrew. It is used in Latin.
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“the child of Jove; one who is youthful”
>99% boys